Rajan Gandhi
Pulwama suicide attack and resultant martyrdom of forty plus jawans left the whole nation shell shocked along with anger. Huge gathering of people assembled for paying their homage and last rites itself speak about the sentiments of general public and chorus of decisive action against Pakistan grew and calculative words of PM Modi that ‘Woh bahut badi galti kar chukae haen aur unko iski keemat chukani padegi’ (they have done a blunder and they have to pay for it) echoed the mood of the country. PM was quite clear in his approach and authorized the defence forces to formulate the strategy to retaliate at appropriate time and place and even American President dropped the hint that India was planning something big. Everyone was under suspense what next and when but one thing was very much clear that every Indian has full faith in our forces and ultimately on the morning of 26th February, 2019 nation woke up with the news of lifetime, yes Indian Air force had undertaken pre emptive air strike deep inside Pakistan and destroyed three JeM terror camps, biggest being at Balakote and as per reports three hundred terrorists including top cadre of Jaish and number of their handlers have been successfully eliminated. More intriguing is the fact that 12 Mirage 2000 took part in action and all of them returned safely without even being detected. More laughable was the subsequent statement of their minister that Pakistan was ready but since it was dark they couldn’t counter the attack and still more amusing was the statement of their defence spokesman claiming that they could have retaliated but Indian fighter jets were air borne for a very short time. Whole world is with India, not a single country in the world came out with anti India statement which itself is significant as it shows the successful isolation of Pakistan worldwide.
Much more significant is the internal news of our own state, Jammu and Kashmir, which has been bone of contention between two countries. Interesting is the fact that Leh- Ladakh constitutes around 60 percent of area of Jammu and kashmir, Jammu division 25 percent and rest 15 percent is of Kashmir Division. In Kashmir also, 10 percent population is of Shia muslims who do not support pro Pakistan agenda followed by separatists and as per official reports its only two/three districts which are the hub of terrorism. It is imperative to mention here that right from the time of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah blackmailing India in the name of Pakistan has been the forte of Kashmir centric politicians, be it sidelining of Maharaja Hari Singh, insistence of grant of special status and even after getting it to the extent that Jammu and Kashmir was the only state in whole India to have separate flag, separate constitution, even own PM – President instead of Governor-CM , totally unjustified constituency distribution after partition which tilted the centre of power from Jammu to Kashmir and still not satisfied plotted against India what is known as ‘Kashmir Conspiracy’ due to which he was jailed but continued his anti India activities through Plebiscite Front till partition of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh in 1971. After this Sheikh Abdullah realized that his independence or pro Pakistan tilt was no more relevant and thus the famous Indira-Sheikh accord was implemented and afterwards Rajiv-Farooq accord came into existence and subsequently arrival of full fledged militancy in our state after CM Farooq Abdullah resigned as he abdicated his constitutional responsibilities and went to London. Migration of Kashmiri Pundits followed, death-destruction-fear ruled the state from 1990 to 1996 as the state was put under Governor’s rule and ultimately after 1996 elections once again Farooq Abdullah became the CM and his son Omar Abdullah at one time was MoS for External Affairs Ministry in Vajpayee Government. Under NDA Government of Vajpayee in 2002 state elections were held which are said to be first fair and free elections of the valley and despite only 16 MLAs Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s PDP was allowed to form the Government in alliance with Congress with three year rotational CM formula, first three Mufti and subsequent three Azad of Congress as CM. But it’s a well documented fact that Azads’s tenure was like a walk on fire and ultimately both PDP and NC came up with famous Shri Amarnath agitation of 2008 and due to petty politics of these two Kashmir centric parties rift between Kashmir and Jammu further widened. After 2008 State Assembly elections Omar came to power and PDP postured pro Pakistan, pro separatist stance which just added fuel to fire and valley remained on boil. After 2014 elections again PDP got the reins of power this time in alliance with BJP and this time NC waging Twitter war with inciting tweets day and night. Practically speaking any of these parties once in power are pro India and pro Pakistan whenever out of power to the extent that these two bitter rivals joined hands to foment trouble for NDA Government. Height of hypocrisy of these two parties can be gauged from the fact that both of them boycotted panchayat and local bodies elections on the issue of Article 35 A and are now insisting on to hold state elections with Parliamentary elections though same Article 35A is aligned to come up in Supreme Court. Mehbooba, Omar and Farooq are giving statement after statement just to score brownie points without caring what damage these statements make to national cause.
But PM Modi being strong man of principle decided that enough is enough and as such internal corrective actions were taken which included withdrawal of security cover of separatists, arrest of Yasin Malik and unabated NIA raids on separatists. Enough forces have been deployed to counter any attempt to vitiate the atmosphere of the state. With air strike on Pakistani soil the bluff of Omar, Farooq or Mehbooba has been exposed and if we analyze the indicators up till now Modi Government is not going to spare anyone who is trying to foment any trouble in Kashmir. Central agencies have nailed separatists and days are not far behind when these dynast politicians will find themselves totally irrelevant in state politics in this new India.
On the other hand Pakistan in a desperate move has made alive whole LOC and IB with the resultant threat to our civilian population. To counter this immediate vacating border area should be the top priority of state administration. In case of absence of bunkers civilian population should be immediately shifted to safer places with adequate facilities and not just stop gap arrangements. Another important aspect is flow of proper information as rumours and misinformation are the biggest panic creators among public as such immediate setup of control rooms at district level with well publicized contact numbers is the need of the hour. Special task force should be at place to check hoarding, black marketing and ensure proper supplies of essential commodities. Hospitals have to be ready for any eventuality making sure round the clock medical facilities are available even at PHC. Enough stocking of petrol, diesel and cooking gas is done specially in Kashmir keeping in view the road condition of NH and weather.
All said and done every war has its pros and cons and definitely a price, be it materialistic or life of jawans or for that matter civilians and every Indian should be prepared for the ultimate sacrifice. One of our pilot is in their custody and Government is putting every effort be it direct talks with Pakistan or diplomatic channels from other countries and as such there is no need to press the panic button and put unnecessary pressure on the Government and Indian hard line has already paid as Pakistan has cracked as their PM Imran Khan has declared in their Parliament to release our pilot on Friday. Let our Government do their job whatever it may be in the interest of the Nation. Lack of punitive actions had instilled helplessness in we Indians till now but now India has crossed the Rubicon, be defensive doctrine has been shunned completely as in the past also this Indian Government has publicised the surgical strikes as such the Balakote raids signals clear message to Pakistan – old rules of the game have changed, it’s a new dynamic India who will not take their thousand razor cuts lying down. Mission is still incomplete but Pakistan has no option now except to dismantle its terror network and sooner they do better it is for them.
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